The Sweetest Sound

The Sweetest Sound

By Paul McCann

Neil was saying his lady goodbye to the house where he grew up in .

The old place had just been sold and he was taking a walk through the place making sure all the windows were closed before locking up the doors and handing over the keys to the estate agent .

He walked into an empty room and a small budgie flew in through the open window .

He took it as an omen of better days  to come and coveted it with his hat . Then he clasped the bird between his hands .

As he did that the bird began to sing a sweet song that echoed all through the house .

He walked to the front door and opened his hands to set the bird free . As the bird flew away another larger parrot landed down on the front lawn . This confirmed for him  that something good was going to happen in  his life .

As the parrot began to sing , with a sweet sound he listened to the notes the bird was singing . 

The melody was peaceful and for him it was a perfect closure for him to lock up the house and move on with his life .

He was the last remaining member of his family who had all passed away .   Now a new life was about to begin for him as musician in residence at Hamilton House up  north from the tropic of Capricorn . 

He had Malcolm and Doris to thank for that post .  They had always supported him with his music and approached Robert , who was a family connection  , to allow him some free time at Hamilton house , his secluded holiday resort in the beautiful Daintree rainforest .

The love of music can be an awful thing , it demands your life and so Neil was married to music . With no Neil family of his own  , he was free to come and go anywhere he wanted . So he booked the flight to North Queensland and Hamilton House ,  his home for the next few years  .

When he arrived there , a large group of people had been booked  in and so he thought it might be a great idea to set up an outside concert in the front garden for the guests . He asked the staff to set up some tables and chairs around the perimeter of the front lawn with him in the middle where he would play his violin for them .

The concert was a huge success .

He even sang a few songs using high voice that always expressed his feelings best  . 

The morning after the concert the guests had commented it was the sweetest sound they had ever heard and asked him to do another concert for them and Neil was more than happy to oblige .

The staff built a small stage for Neil for his next midday concert on the front lawn at Hamilton house . 

Guests arrived early eager to hear him play his violin and sing with a high pitch tone to his  voice .

Neil was given a warm reception as he came on to the stage . After sharing  some words of welcome to the audience he began to play with such a passion , it brought some other guests to the concert .

Wild parrots came and perched around on ledges and trees .

No one would have expected this unrehearsed sound to happen .

As Neil played his violin , the wild birds all  joined in singing and chirping with the music . It was a heavenly sound that echoed all around Hamilton House and the audience there enraptured by the sound .

Everyone who was there had been treated to a very special sound .

Some of the audience managed to record the sound on their mobile phones and contacted the media who used that recording on the prime-time news that night .

A music producer happened to be watching that report on TV and contacted Hamilton House to see if  he could bring along some of his equipment to record the next concert live which would made available for the public to buy .

The next concert was scheduled with Neil and on that day, no one was sure what would happen  but all the equipment was brought up record the show .

Once again, the birds arrived but this time there’s were many more birds who joined in singing when Neil started to play the violin .

When the album The  Sweetest Sound was produced it was promoted on radio and other social media channels . The album was very popular and made a huge impact everywhere it was played .

Neil’s  stay at Hamilton House was. enjoyed by everyone there and the three albums that were recorded live during his residency there were all  top sellers .

After he left Hamilton House, he was offered a four year  recording contract that brought him lots of success . Neil did live concerts in other rainforests in different parts of the world with a similar attraction to the wild birds who came to sing along .

The End